Binge drinking was definitely my specialty. I should rather say it "is" my forte, since repeated experiments have proven that if I pick up a drink I will be right back at the expert bingeing. As others have pointed out and as the wealth of experience here at SR shows, alcoholism is progressive. You may not describe yourself as an alcoholic or one afflicted by alcoholism. That's OK since what really matters is the recognition of a problem. All the normal drinkers around me in my life don't ever, ever struggle with the "alcohol is a problem" self-inquiry, because they are not alcoholics. For me, even though I was never a "maintenance" daily drinker, and had many dry spells in which I managed to get some good responsible human living done, recognizing my binges for the destructive, absolutely out of control booze-fests that they were was a breakthrough step in honesty with myself I needed to take. There is great support here that I make use of and, since I am still early in sobriety, at not quite 40 days, daily AA meetings.
My binges started out as weekend affairs, or occasional party night social occasions. Lots of times they were incredibly fun, and full of laughter and joy and "social effervescence." I would never monitor my intake: these were free-for-alls. A fifth of scotch came to seem like a bottle of wine to me. They usually involved pretty awful hangovers. Gradually, progressively, as my tolerance increased, and as my hangovers began to mutate into something qualitatively different and unbearable--even before I realized I was an alcoholic I knew they were becoming actual withdrawal episodes--those weekends spilled over into the week, then the week into two weeks, maybe at an extreme three weeks. This degeneration took place over twenty years. I look back on that transformation and have a real "wtf" sort of bafflement, like I was watching it happen and it really wasn't me, but some other poor sap. Cunning and baffling indeed. Then followed several half-baked stabs at AA, a couple three month stretches of sobriety, followed by the "it's not an issue for me any more" moment, followed by one seemingly innocuous drink, then right back into the grip of an addiction I felt like I really hadn't signed up for.
It's great that you are taking an honest look at your drinking pattern, and posting/reading here will be a great benefit. I have two young kids and a loving wife who wonder what the hell exactly happend to me over the years of worsening drinking, but now what they truly care about is having the real, sober me present, healthy and active in their lives. I really did play with fire and get burned. My best wishes to you on your path!